Officials have warned Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith that making changes to the Official Information Act (OIA) could raise concerns.
Documents proactively released by the Ministry of Justice include a late December briefing to Goldsmith, which noted the minister “indicated an interest in reforms to the OIA to achieve efficiency and cost effectiveness improvements”.
Forecasts predict the cost of OIA responses to rise over the coming years.
Goldsmith said he’d asked the ministry to gather more information on the impacts of the “significant increase” of OIAs on the public service.
“We are interested to know what revisions could be made, to make the act more efficient and practical.
The minister said he was expecting advice this year and said no decisions had been made.
The Ministry of Justice contracted external consultant Tregaskis Brown to model the costs for the public service in its responses to OIA requests.
Officials said, as the consultancy agency was not able to consider the nature of the OIA requests, the cost estimates were likely “conservative”.
A majority of 77% of requests were sent to six agencies – New Zealand Police, the Natural Hazards Commission, the Department of Corrections, the Defence Force, Fire and Emergency, and Customs.
NZ Police was a key driver of an increase in requests, as media enquiries and emergency requests became in-scope of the act.
Of the $183.6m cost to respond to OIA requests in the 2024/25 financial year, NZ Police spent $50m, Health New Zealand spent $16.4m and Corrections spent $10.8m.
The Ministry of Justice said if the minister wished to prioritise reforms of the OIA, consultation could be progressed in mid-2026, or policy and research could be done in 2026 to inform consultation on a “broader range of possible changes” in early 2027.
The briefing warned any review of the OIA would attract a “significant level” of interest from stakeholders.
Officials said given the OIA is constitutionally significant, “any changes are likely to raise a high level of public interest and possible concern for any perceived limit on freedom of expression”.
The Ministry of Justice said it wanted significant public input.
“We would recommend allowing for extensive public consultation, as well as consultation with key ‘requesters’ such as the media, political parties, academics, and civil societies who will have a particular interest in any proposed changes.
“Given the high-level of anticipated interest, we recommend a consultation period of at least 10-12 weeks.”
The Ministry of Justice and Public Service Commission sent a letter to agencies in March asking for input on the cost of OIA requests and to better understand government agencies’ experience with them.
“We consider this work to be essential for safeguarding the official information system and supporting the purpose of the legislation into the future,” the letter said.
“It may support future changes for a more efficient and effective official information system.”
A follow-up survey from the consulting agency sought information on volume, complexity and scope of requests, as well as cost estimates and staff training on the OIA.
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.